How was the Hanayu Festival in May? I spent a very pleasant
time. I was happy because it was the first time I could experience the Jinsho, a tug of war. I created a video
that you can watch from Misasa’s homepage.

Actually, there was also a tug of war in France. It was
the presidential elections which the second ballot was on May 6th to decide
between Nicolas Sarkozy, the outgoing president, and François Hollande. During
the campaign, both candidates held meetings and participated in TV debates as
it was a tug of war

Furthermore, the Jinsho
and elections went exactly the same way. When the tug of war started, the west
team took the advantage on the east team and won, as François Hollande finally
became the new president after leading his opponent from the beginning. Despite
I am not very interested in politics, I found interesting that at the same time
there were the Jinsho and a political
tug of war.

But, despite this lack of interest, I went to the French
consulate in Kyoto
in order to vote. The reason is that it is a duty, even if I am not fond of
politics. Then, in which way the country will change is another subject. It was
also a good occasion to do some tourism and tell a funny story (at least!).

As I was walking around shops in Osaka without willing to buy anything, I saw
a nice T-shirt. I refrained myself from buying it, and walked my way. Then, a
charming shop assistant came to me and spoke in English. I was thinking that
she studied English hard, and was charmed by that, so I finally bought the
T-shirt.

But, when I was about to pay, I learnt that she was from Hong Kong. « I have been fooled ! », I laughed. In fact, Hong Kong
was an English colony from 1842 to 1997, so it is quite common to be able to
speak English. In addition to that, it is well known that I am unable to refuse
something from a beautiful girl.